Junie 2009

Liewe Medegelowiges

Wil u graag direk uit die mond van ‘n Christen verneem – ‘n bekeerde van Islam wat in Mali, Wes Afrika woon – hoe die Here van die verkondiging van die Evangelie werk en watter geleenthede die radio bied om die Woord verder te versprei? Hier is die verhaal van my vriend en broeder in Christus M’Bimba Dembélé, van Sollo (hy skryf dit in pragtige Engels wat hy net so vlot soos Frans en sy moedertaal praat). M’Bimba saai op ‘n gereelde basis die programme van Reformed Faith and Life uit en het verskeie kere teenoor my getuig watter impak dit op die plaaslike bevolking het:

I am going to explain how my family and I became Christians, and how the Lord helped us start an evangelical project in our village, Sollo.

Like my wife, I was born into a family of Moslems and animists – This is the pattern for most families in Mali , as Islam is always mixed with traditional beliefs.  However, I have never had any religion before embracing Christianity.

In 2003, Mylennie and Werner van Straaten invited their friend, Pastor Wynand de Wet, to come on a visit to Mali . Werner was then Eskom’s Technical Manager in Mali and I worked as the translator for the same company. He was my boss and we were friends. When Pastor Wynand arrived, Werner and Mylennie explained to me that they were making arrangements for a two-week outreach with the pastor, and asked me if I could interpret for the audience. I agreed and what I learned about Christ by dint of interpreting was enough to make me ask the pastor to baptize me. On Sunday 16 February 2003 , Pastor Wynand baptized me at the South African Expatriates’ Church at Manantali, in Mali . Not long after that, I decided to study Theology and asked Werner to find me a university in his country where I could do so. Not only did Werner and Mylennie find one for me, namely Pretoria University , but they also paid for my studies. They helped me enroll immediately and I started a correspondence course.

After the Straatens’ return to South Africa , a difficult situation presented itself in my village. A few American missionaries had left a Christian radio station for the villagers themselves to take good care of, but the equipment was too old and the building, a mud house, was dilapidated; the church nearby, the only one for the village and its closest neighborhood, was a thatched little hut in even a worse state.

The villagers, nearly 100 % of whom were unemployed and lived in abject poverty as they still do, could not even properly feed themselves and their families. As you can imagine, the radio station had to close down and the church building to be abandoned. Services had eventually to be held in the open air, weather permitting.

It was then that the elders of the village held a meeting on 27 November 2005 and asked for my help. I sent for an engineer and paid for the repair to the radio. The station resumed broadcasting and I was appointed its Manager. However, everyone knew that it would not be on the air for long unless we had new equipment and a better structure to house it.

Again everyone looked to me for help, but the challenge was too big for me alone: I had a very good job by Malian standard, the same that I still have, but then I was the only one with some income and I had to help as many as I could among the people who were all less fortunate. I had also to support my own family. As a result, I could not afford the much needed new equipment and new building. At the same time, I did not want the Christian broadcast to be stopped forever. Something had to be done.

I thought of asking for assistance from Werner and Mylennie. As soon as I contacted them, they started raising funds and the building of the radio station began. It was at this stage that I took Addie and Cees van der Sluijs to the building site at Sollo during one of their visits to Mali .

Addie and Cees joined the South-African couple in co-financing the radio station and later the church. The said radio and church have positive influence on people’s faith and everyday lives now. Nevertheless, no matter how effective they are in spreading the Word, they are not enough for us to reach our goal, which is to change our community into an entirely Christian one; if we have a school in addition to these two, we can effect that change irreversibly.

Early last December, Addie and Cees again made a trip to the building site at Sollo and were so impressed by the results that we had achieved that they readily granted our request for funds to build a Bible school…

Liewe vriende, dit is in hierdie omgewing ontsê van die luukse van ons materialistiese en sekulêre Westerse  beskawing, waar die Meester hierdie verstommende werk begin het. Deur Reformed Faith and Life te ondersteun, ondersteun u die proklamasie van die Woord in alle sfere van die lewe, vir die transformasie nie net van individuele lewens nie maar ook van wêreldmenings en kulture. Dankie vir u volgehoue ondersteuning wat beteken dat broer M’Bimba en baie ander omroepers steeds Bybelse materiaal  kan uitsaai op die stasies wat hulle soms teen alle waarskynlikhede in onderhou. Indien u meer wil weet oor die verskillende projekte in Sollo, kan u gerus direk aan my skryf.

In Christus se Naam

Ds Eric Kayayan